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COMMENTARY
May 10, 2008

Britain's next government must beat mood of retreat

LONDON — Has the political tide in Britain now turned? And is the Labour Party under Prime Minister Gordon Brown now heading for defeat?
JAPAN
May 9, 2008

Lawmakers form bipartisan group to back life sentence without parole

With only a year left before the public starts taking part in criminal trials as lay judges, Diet members from the ruling and opposition camps formed a new group Thursday whose aim is to get life sentences without parole into the penal code.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 4, 2008

Japan's media plays nursemaid to nation's immature democracy

A major Japanese newspaper publishes an article denouncing the prime minister. Reporters hold a rally to criticize his Cabinet. The government responds by banning sales of the edition of the newspaper that carried the article, indicting its author for violation of the Newspaper Law. Rightwing agitators...
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2008

Rule of law comes under fire

The government's reactions to the Nagoya High Court's April 17 decision that Japanese operations in Iraq are unconstitutional, raise profoundly disturbing questions about the rule of law and the democratic separation of powers in Japan.
EDITORIALS
May 2, 2008

Constructive solution needed

The ruling bloc has re-enacted a tax code bill to restore gasoline and other road-related tax surcharges by voting it in a second time with a two-thirds majority in the Lower House — a procedure provided by the Constitution. This is the first time in 56 years that such a revote was taken. The timing,...
JAPAN
May 1, 2008

Pandas added to summit agenda

Japan will ask China to provide new panda bears to Ueno Zoo during the summit between President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda next week in Tokyo, a Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
May 1, 2008

Mr. Berlusconi's return

Italian voters are hoping that it will be third time lucky for Mr. Silvio Berlusconi. In fact, the Italian media magnate, one of the world's richest men, is almost always lucky. The real question is whether Mr. Berlusconi's third term as prime minister of Italy will be good for his country. Sadly, there...
EDITORIALS
Apr 30, 2008

DPJ victory in Yamaguchi

The victory of a candidate of the Democratic Party of Japan over a candidate of the Liberal Democratic Party in Sunday's Lower House by-election in the Yamaguchi No. 2 constituency has raised a question mark over Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's political leadership. The DPJ candidate trounced the LDP candidate...
EDITORIALS
Apr 28, 2008

U.S. must solve beef problem

On April 23, a spinal column, a part of the cow that is banned from import because it is considered at risk of spreading mad cow disease, was found in a shipment of beef from the United States. Though this violated a beef trade accord between Japan and the U.S., Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura...
Reader Mail
Apr 27, 2008

Zenkoji decision is laudable

Regarding the Olympic torch relay, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura recently said "We want to prevent disruptions with thorough security." This means the Japanese government will now be complicitous with the Chinese communists in obfuscating protests to the relay.
COMMENTARY
Apr 25, 2008

World must shame African leaders into taking action

LONDON — The recent African summit at the United Nations could not conceal the number of failed states in Africa.
Reader Mail
Apr 24, 2008

Produce food, not missiles

I applaud the recent decision by the Japanese Cabinet to extend economic sanctions against North Korea. North Korea poses a big threat to Asia due to its hardheaded response to calls for nuclear-arms disarmament. North Korea should feed its hungry people instead of building life-destroying missiles....
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2008

Nonproliferation essential to future of nuclear power: experts

Full-fledged reinforcement of the international nuclear nonproliferation framework is of vital importance for facilitating peaceful use of nuclear power and thereby for addressing the pressing global challenges of energy supply and global warming, according to a private policy study group.
EDITORIALS
Apr 22, 2008

Rough road for tax discussions

The ruling and opposition blocs have launched a consultative body to discuss issues related to tax revenue for road-related projects. But, strangely, the body will not discuss revisions to bills that will maintain the surcharges for the gasoline and other road-related taxes, and keep using the revenue...
Reader Mail
Apr 20, 2008

Greasing the wrong wheels

In "Leviathan" Thomas Hobbes wrote, "Unnecessary laws are not good laws, but traps for money." These words apply to the tentative law of road construction included in the gasoline tax. The word "temporary" means "semi-permanent" in the crooked world of politics, and this huge budget has snowballed to...
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2008

Officials' rally urges reinstatement of gas surcharge

Diet members, governors, mayors and local assembly members gathered Friday in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward to call for the reinstatement of the provisionally higher levies on gasoline and auto-related taxes that expired on March 31.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2008

North to soon be off U.S. blacklist: China envoy

The United States will probably soon remove North Korea from its list of states sponsoring terrorism, visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Friday.

Longform

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